April 10, 2008

New penis in Journal-Sentinel controversy

Recently, we endured the unseemly spectacle of a cadre of self-righteous conservatives, trolling the internets looking for ways to be religiously offended and finding one in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's banner advertisements touting an antipodean variety show called "Puppetry of the Penis."

The penis, according to reliable sources, is a popular and versatile body part with a mind of its own, found on slightly less than half of all humans (and occasionally in the other half, or so I've been told).

Notorious Milwaukee Marxist-Leninist Jay Bullock provides more details in the course of his strenuous defense of the free market rights of the venerable Miramar Theatre in this here blog post. (Sixty-two comments and counting, some of which are [unintentionally] hilarious.)

Then, this morning, as I conducted my daily consultation with the J-S's weather page — because it's easier than unbolting the opaque, bulletproof shutters behind which I ply my grisly trade — I found not just an advert for a theater production but an actual penis: the walking, talking, top model-judging prepuce Ben Stein, who's reportedly lent his considerable gravitas and scientific expertise to the forthcoming documentary exposé, Expelled.

You might have to refresh the page a few times to view the penis but if it takes more than three hours to produce the penis, consult a population geneticist.

Coincidentally, my good friend Michael Mathias of Pundit Nation fame sent me this link, according to which even the reviewers at Faux News pronounce Expelled an unmitigated piece of crap.*

For much, much more on Expelled, please visit Prof. PZ Myers's wildly successful blog, Pharyngula. Myers, along with his friend and Oxford don Richard Dawkins, are in the "film" but Myers was physically barred from attending its premiere. Just as comically, Prof. Dawkins, the militant atheist's militant atheist, was granted entry unscathed.

* "[Ben Stein] is either completely nuts or so avaricious that he’s abandoned all good sense to make a buck." — Roger Friedman.

"Teach the (penis) controversy."

See also Expelled Exposed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

(Sixty-two comments and counting, some of which are [unintentionally] hilarious.)

Man, you weren't kidding! That was pretty funny.

Who could fail to take BadgerBlogger Patrick seriously as a thoughtful observer of culture, after reading his devastating critique in the following exchange?

Do you think it is wrong for Muslims to be offended by a cartoon drawing of Mohamed? Is it wrong for a black person to be offended by a noose?
Patrick 04.09.08 - 12:00 pm
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Is it wrong for a muslim to be offended by a drawing of muhammed? Yes.

Is it wrong for a black person to be offended by a drawing of a noose? Just a noose? Yes. But context is important. Like on the South Park flag.

PaulNoonan 04.09.08 - 12:04 pm
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it is right for Muslims to be offended by a drawing, it is right for a black man to be offended by a noose, but it is wrong for a Christian to be offended by the intentional belittling of our most sacred period. Thanks for clearing that up.

Patrickv04.09.08 - 12:38 pm


In case you thought the hysteria was emanating from zealots determined to find cause for outrage whether it's there or not...

illusory tenant said...

And all this time I thought conservative Republicans at least knew right from wrong. Whether they were assigning the proper values to each was the question, but I guess they don't even reach that question after all.